Academy Awards - Live Thread 79th Oscar Awards

25 February 2007 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

The Queen

Peter Morgan's "The Queen" is nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for best picture.

The Departed

Under Martin Scorsese's directing, "The Departed" is nominated for five Oscars.

Babel

"Babel" is nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture and director.

Letters From Iwo Jima

"Letters" is nominated for four Academy Awards, including best director and best picture.

Little Miss Sunshine

"Sunshine" is nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture

Leonardo DiCaprio

Nominated for his role in "Blood Diamond," this is Dicaprio's third nomination.

Ryan Gosling

Nominated for "Half Nelson," this is Gosling's first Oscar nod.

Peter O'Toole

This is veteran actor Peter O'Toole's eighth Academy Award nomination.

Forest Whitaker

Whitaker is nominated for playing the brutal dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland."

Will Smith

Smith is nominated for an Oscar for the second time for his roll in the film "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Penelope Cruz

Cruz, nominated for "Volver," plays a woman whose life is thrown into chaos.

Kate Winslet

Winslet plays a discontented wife in "Little Children," earning her fifth nomination.

Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren played royalty in "The Queen," earning her third Orcar nomination.

Judi Dench

No stranger to the Academy, this is Dench's sixth nomination.

Meryl Streep

Streep played a well-dressed, outrageously demanding editor in "The Devil Wears Prada."

Mark Wahlberg

In "The Departed," Wahlberg explores the underbelly of the Boston police force.

Alan Arkin

No one plays a heroin-addicted Grandpa like Alan Arkin, nominated for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Eddie Murphy

"Dreamgirls" was a box office hit, and earned Eddie Murphy his first Oscar nomination.

Jackie Earle Haley

Nominated for "Little Children," this is Haley's first Oscar nod.

Djimon Huonsou

This is Huonou's second nomination -- this time, for "Blood Diamond."

Rinko Kikuchi

Kikuchi, up for "Babel" in which she plays a deaf teenager in Tokyo.

Jennifer Hudson

Nominated for "Dreamgirls," this is Jennifer Hudson's first Oscar nod.

Abigail Breslin

This is young Breslin's first nod, for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Cate Blanchett

This is Blanchett's third Oscar nod -- this time, for "Notes on a Scandal."

Adriana Barraza

This is Barraza's first nomination, for Amelia in "Babel."

Clint Eastwood

Eastwood is also nominated for Best Picture for "Letters From Iwo Jima."

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Inarritu is nominated for directing "Babel."

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese is a familiar face at the Oscars -- this is his eight nomination.

Stephen Frears

Frears got the nod in 1990. This time, it's for directing "The Queen."

Paul Greengrass

Greengrass is up for "United 93," his first nomination.

[montag813]

Helen's a babe. There are some interesting grabs from some of her earlier roles . . . .

She may want to use some of her large earnings to buy up the remaining copies of "Caligula" still in circulation.

[montag813]

Helen's a babe. There are some interesting grabs from some of her earlier roles . . . .

She may want to use some of her large earnings to buy up the remaining copies of "Caligula" still in circulation.

[daisyscarlett]

Oh I am sure there are plenty here who feel as you do about Jack Nicholson.

I, however, am not one of them. Do you know that he has won an Oscar every decade since 1980?

I do miss the past Hollywood greats though and love to watch "old" movies.

[roses of sharon]

Absolutely, I heard that song and almost cried, lol, such a touching and violent film, beautiful score and perfect scenery.

On my top 10 list!


"As boys they promised to die for each other. As men they did."

[Borges]

You mean the 70s! Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, As Good it gets.

[daisyscarlett]

He did get a lifetime achievement award a few years ago...but it is just not the same as an Oscar and I think he knows this was his last chance. He has got lots of company, though, of great actors who never got the Oscar...John Wayne comes to mind...

[Borges]

John Wayne won for True Grit.

[antceecee]

I love Jack... his faults and all... scared the cr@p out of me in The Shining.

He charmed me in As Good as it Gets.

Even when it is obvious he is so into himself, I still enjoy watching him be an ass.

[antceecee]

Thanks for the info on that. Nice to know they did honor him. Sorry, but I haven't been watching many of these "pat ourselves on the backs"celebrations put on by Hollywood since Sept. 11, 2001.
Just got a bit jaded.

[doesnt suffer fools gladly]

A quote from Jack Nicholson.

"I'm very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I'm positively against it. I don't have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life." ~ Jack Nicholson

[Borges]

Sorry, but I haven't been watching many of these "pat ourselves on the backs"celebrations put on by Hollywood since Sept. 11, 2001. Just got a bit jaded.

American culture (which cinema is a big part of) became more important than ever after that. IMO

[antceecee]

I didn't stop watching movies, I stopped watching awards shows.

Thought I made that clear. IMO.

[stanz]

Just logged on.(12:30) I watched the entire show. Suffered through the insufferable Al Gore, his greenhouse gases and his cheerleader, George Clooney. Anyway, the only two films I saw were "Devil Wore Prada" and "The Queen." I love Helen Mirren and I'm so glad she won. I can't really comment on the other awards except that I think they should have given it to Peter O'Toole for fortitude alone, He does not look well.
I'm sure I'll be seeing photos of the fashions for days. My favorite.....Cate Blanchette..she's always so classy.

[Borges]

One usually goes with the other. The Oscars are such a part and parcel of American movies.

[daisyscarlett]

I love Nicholson too and I realize that his performance in the Departed was not nearly one of his best. I need to rent Terms of Endearment and Five Easy Pieces, have not seen them in ages and so loved them both, especially the restaurant scene in Five Easy Pieces.

So I was off by a decade, huh? Guess that means he only has three years to keep the string going...I was thinking As Good As It Gets was 2000...well this new movie he is making with Morgan Freeman sounds promising - is listed as a comedy adventure...

So John Wayne did win an Oscar, wonder who I am thinking of who did not? Any ideas...

[Borges]

Cary Grant never won a competitive Oscar. There's one. If you want to take it by nominations with Nicholson you can even bo back to the 1960s as he was nominated for Easy Rider.

[Bender2]

Re: Hard to believe he is only 74. Looks more like 88.

Gad! I'm just shy of 60 and I look ever bit of 62...

And if I'd drank as much as Peter O'Toole did...

And old Sam knows I tried!

... if I'd drank as much as Peter O'Toole did, I'd look 108...

If I were still alive

I wish to thank Cutty Sark... and Players Cigarettes for keeping me alive long enough to be stiffed eight times by the Academy!

I shall make it a point to fulfill the rest of my life in hunting down and beating senseless each and every Academy member that did not vote for me...

Have you people forgotten? I... Am... British!

However...

I did hold... an Oscar once! It peed on me...

[antceecee]

I disagree.
The Oscars is an awards celebration where the award is given by the participants themselves... it is a pat ourselves on the back celebration and NOT indicative of what the common ordinary "man/woman on the street" feels about the work they present. It is an opportunity for them to TELL us what we should like/love about the work they have presented in the past year.
Look back at the history of this awards presentation and you will see example after example of movies/persons awarded who did not truly earn what was given.
American culture vis a vis the movie industry is truly served and reflected by the common folk who view the art as presented and react to it through their actions in everyday life.
The Academy Awards is purely about the artists awarding themselves and one another, it is not about the common man/woman and their opinion.
Movies take from the culture. Sometimes they faithfully represent it and sometimes they bastardize it. Too often it is the latter.

[DeerfieldObserver]

ALFRED HITCHCOCK (the renowned "Master of Suspense") never won a single award for Best Director - not even when his film "Rebecca" (1940) was voted Best Motion Picture... Among the film profession, many (who ultimately also do the voting) found the Master difficult to work with.

Famous actors who have never won an Oscar include JAMES DEAN (who d.1955 just after completing "Giant"), and HARRISON FORD (despite starring in 6 of the top 10 highest grossing films by 1989 - the "Star Wars" trilogy and the "Indiana Jones" trilogy). However the record for most nominations without a win is shared by two actors, RICHARD BURTON and PETER O'TOOLE, each with seven nominations (a record shared with Geraldine Page until she finally won an award in 1985).

[DollyCali]

John Wayne won with the patch on his eye.. True Grit. He mentioned if he knew "that is what it took" he would have put a patch on LONG BEFORE.

I think Nicholson in As Good as It Gets was excellent ..also The Shining (but it is scary,,, or I recall it the one time I saw it)